Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE) is extending Europe’s natural gas and power trading to 22 hours a day, in a major shift in the European energy markets aimed to align power and gas better with other commodity trading hours amid a surge in open interest in recent years.
ICE has said that the EU benchmark, Dutch TTF, and the UK wholesale gas benchmark futures will trade for much longer than before, beginning February 23, 2026, subject to completion of regulatory and governance processes.
Currently, the Dutch TTF futures trade for 10 hours between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. in Amsterdam. The extended hours will be from 1:50 a.m. to midnight, as investor interest in European gas and power markets has surged since the energy crisis of 2022.
Last month, ICE, which is the exchange handling Brent Crude futures, launched TTF Daily Options.
ICE TTF futures and options have traded a record 103 million contracts through 2025, the highest annual figure year-to-date (YTD) and the first time TTF has traded over 100 million contracts, the exchange said.
“TTF is the central pricing reference point in the risk management of global natural gas markets, and the growth in open interest and trading volumes across TTF and JKM signal the health and liquidity of ICE’s natural gas markets,” said Gordon Bennett, Managing Director, Utility Markets at ICE.
In the middle of December, ICE said that “Reflecting the growth and adoption of the TTF derivatives market and its importance as a cornerstone of price direction internationally, ICE is working closely with customers as it prepares to extend trading hours in European Gas and Power futures and options including in TTF, NBP and German Power to match that of ICE’s Henry Hub and JKM markets which trade 22 hours a day.”
Early on Thursday, Dutch TTF, the benchmark for Europe’s gas trading, was down by 3.7% amid record-high imports of LNG from the United States and forecasts of milder weather in northwest Europe after the current storm Goretti abates.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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